Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has clarified sparking a diplomatic row with Rwanda.
In a statement, Murkomen noted that he only admired Rwanda’s style of leadership which gives President Paul Kagame more powers to expedite his development agenda.
The CS indicated that court cases had slowed down Kenya’s Kwanza development agenda.
“I have expressed my admiration for Rwanda’s style of leadership which has made it possible for them to build good infrastructure including a new airport and enforce discipline & order on their roads. It’s not just Rwanda,countries like UAE, Morocco, Saudi Arabia among others have a style of leadership that has delivered great success to their people because their leaders have the power to make firm DECISIONS. Our style of leadership has many positives but it’s too bureaucratic and takes years to make a very simple decision which ends up being very costly for our people.”
“Instead of you crying about Rwanda please cry for your country. Help us deal with for example court orders that award a contractor 10B for claims and interests for a contract worth 2B or a a road that stalls for 10yrs because a competing bidder is still waiting a decision of the court. Cry not for Rwanda, they are doing well. Cry for your country,” Murkomen stated in response to lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi who had requested the government to train them on tenets of international relations.
Murkomen ruffled feathers by claiming Rwanda is an autocracy in which what the president says is the law.
Murkomen, who has recently been in the spotlight due to a power outage at Kenya’s busiest airport, the JKIA, was speaking during an interview on Citizen TV on Monday.
The CS, speaking against the backdrop of a campaign to educate motorists about road safety during the holiday season, stated that Kenya is a democracy where the rule of law reigns supreme.
“Rwanda is not like Kenya. Rwanda is an autocracy and there whatever the President says is the law,” CS Murkomen said.
“For every decision you make in this country you must go through a proposal then Parliament then public participation.”
